| On the End of Canon: What keeps a fandom alive? |
[Nov. 29th, 2008|07:25 pm] |
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A question came up on my f-list about the end of canon in Stargate Atlantis.
I'm not sure whether the imminent end of the series has any significant effect on readership
In the Harry Potter fandom it certainly didn't. I can't imagine the end of the series would have a significant impact right away. Quite the opposite. There's a spike in interest as people mourn, fret over what's not neatly tied up, are annoyed at the author's/PTB's ships, or just miss it and want more, darn it. In time I think it will taper off as people find other active canons and drift to new fandoms, but no boom is going to be lowered late December, no, not at all.
How active the fandom remains depends on the fandom:
- Do the main archives, challenges, communities, still have people to run them? (Most Important Factor.)
- Is the fandom old enough to have a solid body of work, and fandom tropes, to sustain it?
- Are there lots of Swiss cheese-like holes remaining to play in?
- How dependent on canon is the fandom (are the majority of fics episode tags, or have the fic writers embraced AUs and crossovers)?
- How committed are the fans to keeping their fandom alive? Have fans declared that nothing will stop their ship? Or have they been ho-hum about the end of their series?
- Are there other factors to keep the fandom alive? Spin-offs, movies, conventions. |
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| Oh, what a tangled web we weave... tuning up your bullshit detector. |
[Nov. 24th, 2008|01:06 am] |
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Tuning Up Your Bullshit Detector
There was a meme going around a year ago, having people list things they've learned in life. I couldn't think of anything at the time. But I've learned some things, and one of those is how to spot someone who's lying. The boyfriend and I play a game with 60 Minutes where he asks me, "Okay, is this person lying? How about this one?"
It's not perfect. I can be fooled. But I've put some time into learning how not to. I have caught more than a few liars in the act.
First is to pay attention.
Recognize circumstances when you're likely to be lied to, so you're looking for it. Is someone embarrassed? Backed up against the wall? Are they being forced to make an apology? Do they have something to lose from telling the truth? Something to gain from telling a lie?
Remember that a lie is a sell job. Your belief is the goal. When someone tries to sell me a story, I sharpen up.
( Body language )
( Fitting the story to the audience )
( The unshakable story )
( A whole truth out of two half truths )
( Flat affect or phony emotions ) |
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| Fanfic and the Magical Forget Ray, or Things I do when I should be doing homework. |
[Apr. 25th, 2008|09:01 am] |
Recently a gen fanfic writer wrote a anti-slash screed. (Doesn't she know that an anti-slash screed is what got me reading and writing slash in the first place, says Icarus, 150 slashfics later.)
The question came up as to whether or not we should read or rec this gen writer's stories in the future. You know, the usual, "Ew, if that's her attitude I don't want to read her." -- "Me neither."
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) destina had a really good post/article about this... somewhere... a very long time ago. But I can't find it. Guess I'll have to write my own.
Fanfic and the Magical Forget Ray
Because we post stories to personal networking sites, we know a lot more about fanfic writers than we once did. Instead of belonging to a list or Yahoo Group and reading fics in a vaccuum, we enounter... people.
This can be good. We might like them. We might wonder why they haven't updated their WIP in ten million years -- and reading their Livejournal, we can find out why.
This can also be bad. We can learn that not only do they write gen, they also write slash (oh my). We might stumble across political beliefs we don't agree with, or an anti-slash screed (uh-oh). I know I liked Anne Rice a lot better before she had a blog.
The person who wrote this screed, well, 1) I didn't like her screed, 2) I didn't like the fact that she deleted comments who disagreed with her and left the ones she agreed with, I think that's dishonest, 3) I didn't like how she started banning people who wrote comments she disagreed with, no matter how mild (for example, "Huh. Really? I'm surprised. I think people should write what they like").
That doesn't matter. In my view at least, the personalities behind the stories are irrelevant. The stories stand by themselves. I may not like someone. I'll still read their fic. I'll still recommend it if I think it's good.
Why?
Because my own credibility will be done for as a reccer (okay, I don't rec as much as I used to, but anyway...) if my recs are swayed by my personal feelings about the authors. That is why the Oscars suck. Overblown Hollywood crap wins because the judges like the director and feel he's deserving.
It's hard to forget when someone's been an utter wanker, of course. And here I wanted to quote destina because her response was classy. (I still can't find that post.)
For myself, I use the "Magical Forget Ray."
It works a bit like the S.E.P. field* in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and looks exactly like an oversized hair dryer from the 1950s (curlers not required). You sit under this baby for about 50 seconds, and voila! What a fine new author you've discovered. Never heard of them before. All that's left behind is a vague sense of unease that causes you to never, ever, read their personal posts again.
* = Somebody Else's Problem, the most effective form of invisibility cloak. |
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| Aha! The Line Between Plagiarism and Fanfiction. |
[Mar. 15th, 2008|06:44 pm] |
I apologize that I won't have time to reply to comments. I'm in finals, behind, asking for extensions even, and I won't have time to deal with the distraction. This is picked up from telesilla.
Aha! The Line! Or -- The Line Between Fanfiction and Plagiarism
For those who have trouble deciding where the line is between fanfiction and plagiarism, here it is.
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) caras_galadhon writes of a popular Lord of the Rings fanfic that turned pro-fic A Hidden Passion by Lucia Logan, which was then revealed to follow Jane Eyre on each plot point, and even in its wording. (I'll leave aside my surprise that the Jane Eyre plot wasn't recognized in the first place. I understand it was called an "homage.")
Next we have Gehayi's report on the pro version A Hidden Passion, which has a handy chart demonstrating where A Hidden Passion copies Jane Eyre.
This example is invaluable. I'm sorry so many people have been burned and the publisher invested in this book and had to withdraw it. (I'll leave aside my surprise that the publisher didn't recognize the Jane Eyre plot either.) Yet what we have here is a perfect example of where the line is drawn between fanfiction and plagiarism. It also gives us some useful hints on the difference between an homage and plagiarism. Fanfiction haters take note.
( Distance Between the Source and Fanfiction )
( Embedded Fanfiction )
( Paid and Unpaid Tie-In Novels )
( Subversive or Transformative Fanfiction )
( Character Displacement - Alternate Universes )
( Character Displacement - Crossovers )
( Character Displacement - Remakes and Remixes )
( Author Reaction to Fanfiction )
( Fanfiction Plagiarism )
( Fanfic Leeches? )
( My Point, if I have one.... )
This doesn't mean that more independent, distant fanfiction stories are better or somehow more "valid" (whatever that means) although it looks like the Marchs of this world are more likely to win a Pulitzer. But these types of fanfiction stories have different aims, and are trying to accomplish different writing challenges. The only thing the different types of fanfiction have in common with each other is the intention to explore the characters and different facets of the original writer's world.
I think I've written this long post just to avoid all the work I'm supposed to be doing right now. Do me a favor and if you comment, be patient about the lack of replies? It's going to be a week before I finish finals. |
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| The Wankometer or How to Measure the Wankiness of Your Fandom. |
[Oct. 27th, 2007|02:48 pm] |
A friend of mine got into a discussion about which of her fandoms were wankiest (I think the specimens were House, Stargate Atlantis, and Supernatural, but don't quote me on that). It got me thinking: how would you, in a fair and impartial fashion, measure the wankiness of a fandom?
I'm far too lazy (or busy) to seek the figures for a comparison of fandoms but I did manage a formula worthy of an Excel spreadsheet.
( Quantitative Measures )
( Qualitatative Measures )
( General Guiding Principle )
( A System of Classifying and Ranking Wank )
( Splashiness )
If I cared enough to do the research...
So there you have it. A method to determine the wankiness of your fandom of choice. I'm far too tired, lazy, busy (throw in "z" word of choice) to do the work of getting actual statistics. But if you're interested, drop it in Excel, plug in the numbers, and see what happens. You might be surprised at which fandom is actually the wankier. Conventional wisdom says the that wankiest is Harry Potter. I haven't run the numbers, but doubt it.
*tips hat*
*exits stage left* |
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forgetful
chatty